Finance minister Philip Hammond on Tuesday [Nov. 1] warned Britain will “strike back” against states hacking into strategic networks in order to avoid a military showdown, as part of a new cyber-defence plan.

Unveiling the £1.9 billion ($2.3 billion, 2.1 billion euro) National Cyber Security Strategy, Hammond said hackers were trying to capitalise on the increasing connectivity of devices to target homes, cars, air traffic control networks and power grids.

“A small number of hostile foreign actors have developed and deployed offensive cyber-capabilities. These capabilities threaten the security of the UK’s critical national infrastructure,” he said at the London launch.

“If we do not have the ability to respond in cyber-space… we would be left with the impossible choice of turning the other cheek and ignoring the devastating consequences or resorting to a military response.

“We will not only defend ourselves in cyber-space, we will strike back in kind when we are attacked,” he added.
The finance ministry earlier called on businesses to “up their game” in the fight against cyber-crime, with Hammond adding that “government can’t deliver innovation — that’s something that only businesses and entrepreneurs can do”.

However, he promised that the government would take “a more active cyber-defence role” to “block, disrupt an neutralise malicious activity… and make Britain to be the best place in the world to be a tech business”…